Ubuntu on time capsule partition....possible?

I've been having some difficulty lately trying to set up some applications on my Macbook Pro (atlassian suite; jira, fisheye, confluence etc..) but the instructions are aimed at linux users, with the odd sporadic mention of OSX. I use Ubuntu at work and find life so much easier, so I'm toying with the idea of setting up a local linux box, but which I can operate from my Mac.

I think I could probably use parallels to achieve this, but I like the idea of installing Linux on a networked drive that I can use as a local webserver and subversion repository. Would I be able to set this up either as a partitioned section of my Time Capsule's hard drive or as an external hard drive plugged into it?

Thanks for your recommendations!